Saturday Night Live has been pushing boundaries for nearly five decades, delivering sharp, outrageous, and sometimes questionable humor that leaves audiences laughing, or gasping. From political satire to celebrity impersonations, the show thrives on skirting the edge of controversy.
And while cast members have endured awkward moments, few can claim to have been personally blindsided quite like Scarlett Johansson, thanks to her husband, Colin Jost.
Jost, a master of dry wit and awkward charm, found himself delivering a joke so risqué that it made his wife momentarily consider fainting. But was it really that bad? Considering SNL’s history of eyebrow-raising humor, this was just another day at 30 Rock.
Scarlett Johansson’s stunned reaction to Colin Jost’s joke
During the infamous joke swap segment on Weekend Update, Colin Jost found himself reading a line written by his co-host Michael Che, one he probably wished he could unsee. The joke in question,
Costco has removed the roast beef sandwich from its menu. But I ain’t trippin’. I’ve been eating roast beef every night since my wife had the kid.
Cue gasps. Cue laughter. Cue Scarlett Johansson backstage looking like she just witnessed an alien abduction. Johansson, in a recent interview with InStyle, revealed that she had been given a heads-up about what she vaguely described as a “vagina joke.”
But the reality of hearing it broadcast on national television, with Jost, her husband, saying it, was another level of shock. She said,
I just can’t believe they went there. It was like, old-school gross. All of a sudden, it was like a whole bunch of people holding up lights and a guy with a video camera. They were waiting for me to react. I felt insane. I was like, ‘I think I’m going to faint.’
Jost, ever the professional, delivered the joke like a seasoned SNL veteran, while Michael Che probably sat back and relished the chaos he orchestrated. And let’s be honest, this wasn’t even close to being the worst thing said on SNL.
The most controversial SNL jokes that made headlines
SNL has built its legacy on pushing boundaries, sometimes to the point of national outrage. Over the years, comedians have tested the limits of good taste, leading to moments that live on in infamy.
Some jokes resulted in public apologies, others in permanent bans, and a few even became defining moments in pop culture. Here are some of the most controversial moments in the show’s history:
- Norm Macdonald, the king of dry humor, was relentless in his jabs at O.J. Simpson during and after the murder trial. The jokes were so relentless that some believe they played a role in Macdonald getting fired from Weekend Update. When Simpson was acquitted, Macdonald famously opened Weekend Update with, “Well, it’s official, Murder is now legal in the state of California.“
- Martin Lawrence went off-script during his monologue and delivered an extended, wildly inappropriate rant about feminine hygiene. NBC was not amused and banned him from the show for life. The network even removed the segment from all reruns, replacing it with a disclaimer.
- Irish singer Sinead O’Connor ended her performance by tearing up a picture of Pope John Paul II while saying, “Fight the real enemy.” The audience was stunned into silence. The move led to widespread backlash, and NBC received thousands of complaints. To this day, it remains one of the most shocking live TV moments.
- Known for his extremely misogynistic and crude humor, Andrew Dice Clay hosted SNL in 1990. His reputation alone was enough for cast member Nora Dunn to refuse to appear on the episode, and musical guest Sinead O’Connor backed out in protest. After the episode aired, Clay was effectively blacklisted from the show.
- Pete Davidson, never one to hold back, joked about then-Congressional candidate Dan Crenshaw, a former Navy SEAL who lost his eye in combat. The joke, “You may be surprised to hear he’s a congressional candidate from Texas and not a hitman in a porno movie,” was met with outrage. SNL later invited Crenshaw on the show for a rare on-air apology, which resulted in a surprisingly wholesome and funny exchange.
- Chevy Chase made history as SNL’s first Weekend Update anchor, but he also made headlines for a racially insensitive joke directed at Richard Pryor. The joke sparked backstage tension and almost led to a physical altercation. Pryor would later address the racial climate of comedy head-on in his own stand-up.
Scarlett Johansson may have been caught off guard by Jost’s roast beef joke, but in the grand scheme of SNL’s history, it was just another raunchy gag. Compared to Martin Lawrence’s ban-worthy monologue or Sinead O’Connor’s Pope-shredding moment, this was practically wholesome.
That said, Jost may want to sleep with one eye open for the foreseeable future, because if Johansson ever gets a joke swap moment of her own, revenge might be just as brutal.
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